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FINDSPARK COMMUNITY SUCCESS STORIES

Mohammad Bolatero, Digital Marketing / Social Media Intern at Two TreesCommunity member and Hustle Summit Fellow Mohammad found out about the internship at Two Trees through the FindSpark job board. He applied and eventually got the job!

September 29, 2016

Kaila Kane, PR Intern at ASTRSKPR
Hustle Summit Fellow Kaila applied to ASTRSK PR through the FindSpark job board, and was offered an accelerated internship at the company with the potential to become an Assistant Account Executive. She says, "I started participating in FindSpark events/webinars in January, and two months later I can say that I've found a job and am officially moving to New York!"

March 22, 2017

Christina Waterman, Associate Producer for the Shorty Awards
Christina, a Hustle Summit Scholar, used the FindSpark job board to apply for a freelance position at the Shorty Awards and got the job! She was recently brought on full-time.

March 22, 2017

Matthew Reich, Film Marketing Intern at Allied Integrated Marketing
FindSpark member Matthew attended Hustle Summit in New York City, where he met with reps from Allied Integrated Marketing. He was later hired as their newest Film Marketing Intern!

April 4, 2017

Tiffany Hui, Content Manager, Global Emerging Accounts at BrandwatchTiffany attended Hustle Summit in New York City with her sister Melissa, a longtime member and Hustle Summit Fellow. She connected with Brandwatch at the event, and got the job a few months later!

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The Career Opportunity You Need to Start Taking Advantage Of

When you think about what you’ll need to be successful, ambition probably comes to mind.

But, what does it mean to be ambitious? What does it look like?

Many of us would say it’s a commitment to self-improvement, to meet our personal and professional goals.

But what about helping others meet their goals? Everyone knows helping others is nice–you probably agree. What you may not realize is how much it’ll help you reach your own career milestones.

Sure, we hear about the gift of giving all the time, but it’s often framed as an emotional or intangible reward, like the warm fuzzy feeling you get after doing good for someone else.

However, there’s much more than warm and fuzzies to be gained by helping others reach their career goals. It’s much more than altruistic, it’s downright smart.

No matter what stage of your career you’re at–student, entry, mid or senior-level pro–there’s lots to be gained professionally by investing time to help others with their career development.

This is not to say that we should do good things only because they benefit us. However, if you find it hard to justify time spent helping others, or if you’ve ever thought you’re too young or inexperienced to impact someone’s career, this might help change that mindset.

So, with that said, here’s a list of ways small and large that you can do good and get better:

Share advice at a workshop or in an online community

Donate time to share your insights at an industry or career workshop or a for a student club. While it can take time (and a little courage) to prepare a talk, move your butt to the event and speak to a crowd, it’s an awesome way to shed light on questions about your industry or professional development and help others take important next steps in their career.

Why invest time to share insights at an event? For starters, “keynote speaker at [insert event name]” looks darn nice on your resume. It’s also a great way to practice your pitch and test new ways to tell your story and phrase your accomplishments.

FindSpark speaker alumni Megan Murphy of VaynerMedia explains that speaking, for her has been a “constant reminder to stay hungry and thankful. The energy from the students every year is electric and I’m so thankful I’m in a spot to feed that.”

Offer to go on an informational interview

Not about the public speaking life? Help other pros reach their career dreams by offering to go on an informational interview. If you meet someone who’s excited about what you do, offer to grab coffee with them or, if you work at an office, offer to take them on a tour.

In doing so, you not only help that young pro reach their career goals–you initiate a cycle of giving back. This means, in the future, you’ll be able to count on this young pro when you need it.

Share opportunities on social media

Probably the simplest way to help out. If you hear about an event, workshop or opening in your company or industry, share it with your network. This will help them stay on top of their networking and job hunt game.

And–bonus–if you work at a company that uses a referral system, you can make big bucks when someone you refer gets hired!

Mentor someone

You may already know that FindSpark is kind of obsessed with matching young pros with awesome mentors. That’s because we’ve seen the impact of mentorship first hand, by facilitating mentorship at events like Hustle Summit.

First off, it’s a chance to form a real friendship with your mentee. Who doesn’t like friends?

While mentorship does entail teaching and helping out your mentee, you don’t have to approach it as solely top-down. Your mentee can be a professional asset to you, the mentor, in a number of ways–from collaborating with you on a special project to connecting you to people at their company once they’ve landed their dream job (with help from their amazing mentor).

Too young or inexperienced to be a mentor, you say? There’s no such thing. A mentor doesn’t have to be a wise old person with a cane (although they can be).

All you need to be a great mentor is the desire to someone fulfill their career potential.

Take it from FindSpark Campus Ambassador, Tatiana Milcent. The student pro says that “helping other young pros as a campus ambassador and speaker had helped me connect with so many individuals and make still standing friendships with lots of smart professionals. It’s grown my network in ways that I couldn’t even imagine and had brought me to where I am now.”

So, are you convinced that helping others is awesome and totally worth your while?

Eager to start making an impact on your career and those of others? Check out our Hustle Summit Mentorship Zone and how you can be a part of it! You can also visit FindSpark events for other awesome upcoming speaking and mentorship opportunities.

About FindSpark

FindSpark is a community dedicated to setting up young professionals for career success and connecting employers to top, diverse young professional talent.

Since forming in 2011, FindSpark has become the largest Meetup group for interns and recent grads in the country, hosting over 250 events for more than 25,000 members.

FindSpark is proud to be a certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE).

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